


interweaved

by ladyveracruz



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of drugs, blood and injuries, mild violence, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28810068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyveracruz/pseuds/ladyveracruz
Summary: "i was scared.""scared of what?""scared to see you hurting because of me."
Relationships: Cai Xukun & Wang Ziyi, Cai Xukun/Wang Ziyi, Lin Yanjun & You Zhangjing, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	interweaved

**Author's Note:**

> so im back with another contribution to zikun/yikun tag because it's so dry and i miss those two. hope you enjoy this!

ziyi pressed his right hand on his side as he maneuvered the car with the other hand, trying to get the hell out of this place as quickly as possible. he didn't expect there would be a flaw in their plan and ended up getting ambushed by their enemy. just 10 minutes before he was cornered by these men, linong, their spy, warned him that only a couple of bodyguards were seen along with the boss of the drug cartel on the gala night, so there must be more people in the workshop. and it turned out to be true.

the team sent ziyi because he was the best fighter among them and he knew best when it came to cars. yanjun, their sniper, was actually there with ziyi but he was positioned on the outside, on the top of the building in front of the workshop. he couldn't help much because ziyi was trapped inside and yanjun couldn't shoot any of their enemies until they're on the open. ziyi already warned yanjun not to leave his spot no matter what, afraid it would ruin the plan even more. 

truth be told, if anyone asked him who their team really are, ziyi couldn’t explain it. their team consisted of six different people with their own specialties and pasts. they’re neither good nor bad people. though one of their closest detective allies, han mubo, called their team a group of vigilantes, and maybe that’s what they all were. it’s mostly because they didn’t work under or for anyone, they didn’t want to be affiliated with the government or police. but sometimes, han mubo also gave them unsolved cases and paid them some money in return. only a few trusted people knew about their real identities, but even those people didn’t exactly know a lot. on the normal days, everyone except zhangjing who worked on a small clinic on the outskirts of the town, spent most of their times on their car workshop. it was actually ziyi's old workshop, they decided to work there for the sake of their disguise, so people wouldn't get suspicious of them. the car workshop business surprisingly went well, they had some regular customers already. that's why they kept doing that business as the main source of their funding.

for today's operation, the original plan was ziyi went to the car workshop to steal one specific car. it was a customized one that was used to smuggle illegal money and drugs from the neighboring country by this cartel. and now, the said car had just arrived in the workshop a few minutes before. ziyi and yanjun had made sure that the smuggled items were still inside the car before he barged in. zhangjing already succeeded in hacking the security system and tracked down the car which they needed to steal, the front rolling door was still wide open so ziyi didn't have any problem to get in.

but it didn't last long because now, ziyi was facing some problems. he was struggling with five people who tried to beat his ass after he successfully knocked down four of them right after he went in. ziyi thought he could run away before they alarmed the others but he was so wrong. and when he saw the front rolling door started closing down slowly, he knew he was fucked.

“ziyi, are you sure you don’t need my help?” ziyi could hear yanjun’s voice from the earpiece.

“yes, i can handle it. just stay in your position. i’ll make it quick.”

“be careful, i already took care of their cars that were parked on the outside.” 

ziyi turned off his earpiece, he let out an involuntarily small whimper when he felt a sting on his fresh wound, blood started tainting his grey shirt. one of the men managed to stab him on his right side, he also felt there were more wounds on his body but he just brushed off the pain. he didn't want to think about them right now. ziyi cursed inwardly when he realized he ran out of bullets, he threw away his gun and unleashed two daggers from his sides, facing the rest of the men. one of them still had a loaded gun and the rest were wielding their knives. ziyi really should listen to yanjun when he said ziyi needed to wear a bulletproof vest. he realized he just dug his own grave. 

the car that zhangjing mentioned was already a few feet away from him, zhangjing already made sure it was unlocked so ziyi could drive it as soon as he got in. he didn't know how hacking worked so he was just going to trust the elder on this. he scanned his surroundings and started to inch backward slowly, making sure he didn't make any sudden movements that could alarm the men in front of him. when he felt the rearview mirror of the car bumped into his back, he whipped out his daggers in one swift movement; one to the man who had the gun and the other flew to the closest man in front of him, successfully brought them down. ziyi quickly got into the car, careful with his wounds, as the others lunged forward to grab him. he needed to lure them out so yanjun could finish them all. 

the doors of the workshop were already closed so ziyi stepped on the gas, speeding it up, not caring if he would wreck the hood of the car. he could always ask xiao gui, their mechanic, to fix it if needed. ziyi glanced at the rearview mirror and quickly ducked when they started shooting him again. _of course, they had more guns_. ziyi muttered bitterly under his breath. 

ziyi successfully got out with a loud bang, the wooden doors scattered behind him. ziyi made a sharp turn to his left as the rapid rain of bullets mowed the rest of the men down. the loud shooting noises started to fade when he reached the main road. ziyi never doubted yanjun abilities, of what he was capable of. that man was terrifying when he was in his assassin mode. just never ever mess with lin yanjun.

the street was clear, no sign of their enemy on his tail. ziyi pulled up his right bloody hand to turn on his earpiece, he needed to know the fastest route to reach their base. ziyi already opened his mouth to speak but got cut off by a half shout coming from his earpiece.

"ziyi, what the hell happened?"

"xukun— _ah fuck._ " ziyi grimaced, he felt a twinge of pain on his side when he was trying to avoid a bus that suddenly stopped in front of him. 

"ziyi, are you okay?" xukun asked again, this time with a slightly lower tone. ziyi didn't know whether it was because of his muddled brain tricking him or his leader really sounded a little bit worried. 

cai xukun was a strict leader who never really showed too much emotion in front of them, even to ziyi, the first person he recruited. yes, ziyi saw xukun frustrated and got mad but never once he saw his leader being emotional. xukun was good at hiding his true feelings and ziyi understood that, xukun had been through a lot. so, no matter how close they were, ziyi knew his boundaries and would never pry. he always waited for xukun to tell ziyi himself about what's on his mind whenever he was ready. when he thought about it again, it had been three years since that day when ziyi first met xukun in his repair shop. his mouth quirked up at the thought, and that's a story for another day.

"yeah, just," ziyi took a shaky breath and shook his head lightly, trying to regain his focus back, "give the phone to zhangjing, i need to know the fastest route."

a beat, then two, before he heard a disgruntled sigh from xukun and the phone was passed to zhangjing. zhangjing explained which he should take and after he finished, ziyi told him to keep talking so he wouldn't lose his consciousness on his way. zhangjing told him that he took care of the traffic jams and xiao gui was currently helping him blocking the road because one of the men managed to get away from yanjun and was chasing ziyi. upon hearing that, ziyi sped up the car, he just wanted to get this over quickly. the night started to bleed like ink around him.

ziyi didn’t know how long it took for him to reach their base but he felt relieved when he finally saw a familiar opening of the forest in front of him. ziyi started to slow down the car. their base was located in the middle of a forest in the countryside. they tried to hide it as best as they could, and to confuse their enemies, the road leading to their base was pathless. it wasn't on the map either so ziyi hoped tonight he wouldn't crash on one of the trees because he started to feel light-headed. 

not long after he carefully drove through the trees, he saw the familiar building made of bricks towering in front of him, the black gates were already wide open. zhangjing must have seen his arrival through the cctv. ziyi pulled the break when he reached the front door, he saw zhangjing was already there on the front porch, waiting for him. 

ziyi turned the car off then stumbled out of it, a hand clutched on his side tightly. he felt weirdly hot, winded, and started feeling dizzy. ziyi half-dragged his feet, he could see zhangjing already rushed forward to help him. but right after ziyi took two small steps, and before zhangjing could reach him, a sharp pang of pain thrust through his stomach, causing ziyi to drop on his knees and groan loudly. ziyi could hear a muffled voice calling out his name before his vision started to fade away into obscurity.

* * *

ziyi jolted out of black, confused and dizzy. he gritted his teeth, annoyed at the pounding on his head that became more prominent. the queasiness he felt didn’t make everything better. ziyi tried to calm down his breathing as his right hand reached for his temple, massaging it lightly.

the room he was currently in was dimly lit which ziyi could recognize instantly that it was the infirmary, just from the omnipresent smell of antiseptic filling up the room. he concluded that he did pass out right after he reached the base. he drowsily stared at the white ceiling.

the infirmary looked familiar yet unfamiliar. almost all of them actually never stayed in this room even for a night because they were too stubborn and didn’t want to be cooped up in the all-white-prison doing nothing. ziyi recalled that one time when xiao gui refused to stay the night, despite being seriously wounded, said the room was _too stinky_ to get away from it, and ignored zhangjing’s deadly glare. they only let zhangjing patched them up necessarily then moved to their own room on the second floor. ziyi seldom got any severe wounds so he never truly needed to stay the night in here. except now apparently, he wasn’t sure if he could even walk straight yet. ziyi glanced at his left, studying the moonlight as it filtered through the bedroom window, listening to the soft beeping sound of the heart monitor and the faint rustling of leaves in the night air.

ziyi’s eyes then trailed down to his own body. he already changed into a clean plain white shirt, it was unbuttoned so he could see his body was covered with bandages, from his stomach up to half of his chest. he tried to move his left arm but it barely bulged, he then realized that he also got shot on his left shoulder. the bandages were already tinted with blood again, and they were wrapped too tight around his arm. _this was so zhangjing_. ziyi’s lip twitched at the corners.

as the hacker slash doctor in their team, zhangjing always made sure the bandages were wrapped around the wounds tightly because he knew very well his teammates didn't like to be bandaged up and would try to mess with it. most of the time the culprit was either xiao gui or linong, and sometimes both of them. they loved making the elder chased them around the base, stopping them from removing their gauzes before their wounds were fully healed. a small smile crept upon his face, he couldn't wait to meet the others.

the moon was a warm milky glow in the dark sky. ziyi didn't know what time it was exactly because he couldn't find any clock inside the room but it must be past midnight, noting he couldn’t hear the five of his mates chatters from the outside of the room. he took a deep breath and closed his eyes again, basking in the warm rays of the moonlight, letting his mind wander around in nothing particular. 

ziyi sat stilled for what felt like a long time until a rustle of fabrics and a soft groan coming from the foot of his bed pulled him completely from his reverie. in the pitch darkness of the room, ziyi could only make out the outline of whoever the person is, hunching over his bed. the position looked really uncomfortable. ziyi let his eyes trailed to the back of the head of the person before him, he could hear his heart started beating loudly on his ear, was it—

he stopped his wishful thinking when the person suddenly shifted and now he faced ziyi completely. ziyi blinked a few times to clear his vision and then swallowed a lump of disappointment when he figured out who he was. _who did you expect to see, ziyi_. he chuckled at his own foolish thought.

in that moment, the person before him suddenly stirred and his eyes slowly fluttered open, which went wide in a second when he realized ziyi was already wide awake. the person sprung on his feet and dashed closer to ziyi's left side.

"ziyi, you're awake!"

"yes, nongnong. apparently i am." 

chen linong let out a quiet squeal and grasped his left hand tightly, "man, do you know how worried we are? you're unconscious for two days! _two days!_ you were basically in a coma, ziyi! i really want to hug you right now but zhangjing would kill me if i dare to lay a finger on you." the younger went on and on and ziyi couldn't help but let out a soft smile.

"oh come on, nongnong, you know i'm not made of glass. i just broke some ribs, see? i’m—” ziyi winched when he tried to move his body slightly and caused linong to burst out laughing.

“see what, old man?” linong voice laced with mirth. 

ziyi breathed out a laugh, “but you know, unlike _you_ and xiao gui, i won’t go anywhere. you don’t need to be worried.”

“we _couldn’t not_ be worried about you ziyi, you looked so pale, zhangjing even said you were on the brink of death! oh, and now i remembered that i should inform zhangjing that you just came back to life.” linong started to stand up but ziyi reached out a hand to stop him.

“no, it’s okay, i’m okay. no need to wake him up until morning. isn’t it like past midnight already?”

“yeah, it’s almost 4 am.” said linong after he checked on his wristwatch, he then plopped down on the bed, legs crossed facing ziyi.

“tell me what happened when i was unconscious.”

and the words spilled out, linong told ziyi every detail he could remember. fortunately for them because this cartel wasn’t the big one so with the evidence that they had collected over these past two months, they successfully brought them down. “...so yeah xukun already handed over all of the evidence to han mubo and his sidekick, what is the name of that loud detective again? ah yes, qin fen. i’m always wondering why mubo can withstand someone like that...” ziyi found himself stilled when he heard xukun’s name, the rest of the younger’s words fell on deaf ears. ziyi thought about how devastated it must be for xukun. their leader strived for perfection, he loved to have everything worked out according to the plans, that’s why almost all of the plans went smoothly without any defect. _not like the last one._ even though the situation was better and already under control, ziyi couldn't help but worry about xukun, afraid that he would blame everything on himself. and ziyi knew xukun would do that. 

like sometimes, ziyi would find xukun standing in front of his door in the middle of the night, with tousled hair and exhaustion lining on his face. ziyi, a light sleeper that he was, woke up everytime he heard the soft knocks on his door. ziyi never said a word and just let xukun in, leading him to sit on his bed. then they would spend the rest of the night watching movies side by side until both of them got sleepy. xukun's room was actually just next door, so he usually just went back to his room once the sleepiness became unbearable. but there were times when xukun fell asleep first on his bed, so ziyi moved to sleep on the sofa on the corner of his room. his bed was big enough for two but he didn't want to cross the line, and ziyi didn't want to wake xukun up because he knew xukun had trouble sleeping and often got nightmares. the past he tried to forget always came back to haunt him in his sleep. ziyi never asked first, he always waited for xukun to tell him about them. and sometimes he did.

ziyi snapped out of his thoughts instantly when linong was snapping his fingers in front of ziyi, “wang ziyi, are you seriously just ignoring me?”

ziyi blinked a few times then smiled sheepishly at the younger, “ah, i’m sorry i blanked out. i just,”

a look of understanding flashed on linong’s eyes, he let out a soft smile, “he is okay ziyi, xukun is okay. well, i didn’t know what happened behind his bedroom door but he’s acting perfectly fine, and no bags under his eyes or whatsoever which means he slept fine.”

ziyi averted his eyes and mumbled under his breath, “who said i thought about xukun?” 

“ha! i might be young but i know when someone was head over heels for our great leader! you are not slick enough, ziyi.” 

damn linong and his ability to see through everyone bullshit. ziyi thought. he was sure his whole face had already turned beet red, ziyi was glad they hadn’t switched on any lamp yet. he then cleared his throat awkwardly, “so, what’s your plan for today?” asked ziyi instead, a poor attempt to dodge the conversation entirely.

linong wiggled his eyebrows and grinned, but went along with ziyi nonetheless. they ended up talking and joking around until the sun rose, the peach-stained light shone through the windows. linong then excused himself, went out to tell zhangjing about ziyi and then went to the bathroom to get some shower before yanjun woke up. “god knows how long that man would spend his time in the bathroom today.” linong grunted as he walked to the door.

"you know that you can use my bathroom, right? xukun wouldn't mind." said ziyi but linong just waved his hand at him as he closed the door with a soft click.

the six of them had their own rooms but there were only three adjointed bathrooms upstairs; between xiao gui and zhangjing rooms, linong and yanjun, then ziyi and xukun. so they needed to take turns. and yanjun was the only one who took the longest time in the bathroom. never trusted yanjun when he said his shower wouldn’t take long. 

ziyi exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, maybe he could get a quick sleep before zhangjing barged into the room and nagged him later.

* * *

two days had passed since he woke up, and zhangjing still wouldn’t let him get out from the bed. “you should be grateful that the stab on your gut didn’t damage your liver or caused anything serious. but you still need some time to recover, so two more days for bed rest. and don’t you dare to argue back because i’m your doctor and i know better.” zhangjing literally threatened him and wouldn't stop nagging ziyi for not informing the elder as soon as he woke up.

and now, ziyi was scrolling aimlessly through the channels on the tv. he sighed contentedly, today was the last day of his bed rest, he couldn't wait to go back to his room soon. compared to yesterday and this morning, this fine afternoon was quieter. his teammates couldn't see ziyi at once because zhangjing only allowed one person at a time, afraid they would make a mess inside the room, so the others just took turns to check on his condition. but yesterday, sneaky as always, linong and xiao gui successfully barged into his room together when zhangjing and yanjun went out for grocery. they ended up playing some games on xiao gui’s brand new playstation 5 until dawn broke. when ziyi asked them why they even bothered bringing the playstation from upstairs to the infirmary, they only shrugged and said they didn’t want ziyi to get bored watching television all day. ziyi just laughed at that and reached out to mess up both of their hair, totally grateful for their company.

this morning though, it was yanjun turn. he was actually his most frequent visitor besides zhangjing. yanjun often casually dropped by after dinners, or when he was bored which was pretty often considering yanjun spent most of his time with zhangjing. and these past few days zhangjing was busy taking care of the evidence and documents that they were going to hand over to han mubo.

and today, yanjun came into his room with a stack of dvds in his hand, and said that he was _craving for some violence_. ziyi quoted. they ended up devouring 4 action movies in one sitting and ziyi loved all of them. yanjun and ziyi in fact, had a lot of similarities and had a mutual understanding of each other, that's why they got along really well. and ziyi was the only one who found yanjun cold jokes funny.

"woah, that was great!" said yanjun as he stretched out his body like a cat on a single sofa besides ziyi.

"your taste is immaculate as always, bro."

"nah, you don't need to mention—" yanjun suddenly gasped out loud not long after he checked his phone, jumping out on his feet, "oh snap, xukun is going to kill me. ziyi, i need to go out to pick up xukun from mubo's apartment."

"pick him up? why didn't he drive by himself? what happened? is he okay?"

yanjun must have detected the worry on his voice because he then put both of his hands on ziyi's shoulder, squeeze them lightly, "he _is_ okay ziyi, it's just xiao gui is currently _experimenting_ with the other two cars in our workshop, calling it an upgrade or whatever. in case of emergencies, xukun said we should have at least one working car in here. and here i am, become a driver of the day. so, i'm going to go now."

ziyi let out a relieved sigh, then nodded, but ziyi stopped him before yanjun reached the door, "wait yanjun, actually uh," ziyi tried to swallow a lump on his throat, "was xukun still that busy?"

yanjun looked bewildered for a moment but then a soft smile crept on his face, "he hasn't come here, has he?"

ziyi just shook his head helplessly.

"silly boy. don't worry, i'm going to talk to him later." said yanjun before he closed the door and disappeared behind it.

ziyi just sagged into his pillow, staring straight at the ceiling. thinking about the possible reasonings as to why xukun hadn't bothered to check on him even just to bid him a quick hello. did he mess up the plan that badly? ziyi couldn't help but wonder.

* * *

it was around three in the morning when ziyi roused up from his sleep, he felt his throat was rough and scratchy so he reached for a glass of water on the top of a drawer on the right sight of the bed carefully because the room was pitch black. once he grabbed it without accidentally knocking down anything else, he gulped down the cold liquid in a second. ziyi huffed out a small breath as he put back the glass. and now he was wide awake. this was one of the reasons why he hated waking up in the middle of the night, he would find himself hard to go back to sleep again. he was contemplating to count the sheeps or something but decided to play with his phone instead. ziyi fished out his phone from under the pillow then let his body drop back to the bed with a soft plop.

moments later when ziyi was busy scrolling through his weibo timeline, he suddenly heard a sharp intake of breath and a soft groan coming from somewhere around his legs. he glanced down and immediately felt a sense of déjà vu, and surely he could see an outline of a hunched figure sleeping next to his feet. he couldn’t see who it was but he concluded it was either linong or yanjun again, they fell asleep like these a few times before because they often randomly came by to watch the tv in here. 

it was actually rather unusual because they often woke ziyi up when they came by, but ziyi brushed off the thought. he sat up and reached out a hand to wake up the person, so whoever he was could move to sleep on the more comfortable sofa across his bed. ziyi tapped on the person’s shoulder lightly, he couldn’t see his face because it was buried on his folded arms. ziyi continued shaking it softly and only stopped when he heard a grunt then a soft “no” which made ziyi froze on the spot. he knew the voice very well. in that moment, ziyi heard him stirred and shifted. ziyi didn’t realize he was holding his breath until the person before him rose up from his slouched position and sat straighly on the stool while rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“xukun.”

cai xukun looked up with wide eyes, his eyes now gleaming bright. it seemed like xukun just realized ziyi was wide awake in front of him, he then quickly averted his eyes. after days wondering why his leader hadn’t stepped in the infirmary to check on him and now on the last day of his bed rest, xukun decided to show up. ziyi turned on the desk lamp on his left side, it casted its soft orange glow on xukun’s face.

there was an awful, heavy silence in the air and ziyi hated it. the awkwardness between them was unsettling, they never went through this situation before. ziyi trailed xukun’s every movement, as his leader was absent-mindedly fiddling with his now-crumpled shirt. after much deliberation, ziyi decided he had enough, he cleared his throat and broke the silence, “you know xukun," he started softly, "you can hug me if you—” ziyi stopped mid sentence and let out a small oof because xukun suddenly engulfed him in a bear hug which caused ziyi to lose his balance and plopped back to the bed with xukun on the top of him. he felt xukun locked his fingers on the back of his neck, so ziyi embraced him back and held him closer, huffing a soft laugh.

“hey, what happened to our strong leader? feeling emotional in all of sudden?” ziyi couldn’t help but teased him, it was so unlike him. xukun seldom hugged people like this, he hated being too affectionate. but xukun stayed silent and just tightened his embrace even more if it’s possible, it made ziyi become more worried. ziyi tried to pry his hands from his shoulders but xukun’s hold was really strong. 

“xukun.” ziyi tried again, softer.

“just, _please_ , stay like this for a while.” xukun finally answered and ziyi could detect his quavering voice. ziyi just nodded as he rubbed the back of xukun’s neck comfortingly. the now-comfortable silence engulfed them entirely as they stayed in the same position. he felt xukun move his head slightly and pressed down his face onto his neck. at that time, ziyi almost pulled away again because he felt his jumper was starting to get damp. ziyi bit his tongue, _later_ , he reprimanded himself. he decided to thread his fingers through xukun soft hair, he wished he could just stop this moment altogether.

a few minutes later, xukun slowly loosened up his locked fingers behind ziyi’s neck. ziyi rose up on his sitting position, pulling up xukun with him, and folded his long legs when xukun scooted back to sit across ziyi on the bed.

“i’m sorry,” xukun started, his eyes brimming with unshed tears, “because of me, because of my failed plan, because i was too reckless to think that the operation was a small one and didn’t think it through enough, you got injured so bad and oh fuck ziyi i almost lost you.” ziyi saw xukun clenched his jaw, his hands pressed together.

watching the upsurge of emotions coming off from xukun like this was a new thing to ziyi and he was too dumbfounded to react quickly. he was stunned for seconds until he snapped out of it and reached for xukun hands, intertwined their fingers together. forgetting his own principle for not initiating the first move when it came to xukun. and now, his leader was staring at their joined hands but didn’t move his hands away. it made ziyi feel the swell of affection blooming in his sternum.

“xukun, look at me,” and when ziyi got xukun’s attention again, he continued, “you can’t finesse everything all the time, humans made mistakes. and that wasn't entirely your fault, we are a team right? don't be too hard on yourself because you still have us by your side.” 

"i don't deserve you guys." xukun muttered, his eyes shifting to the side, away from ziyi’s gaze.

they fell into a silence again until ziyi opened his mouth, "why didn't you visit me sooner, xukun?"

ziyi could see xukun stiffened at his question but his eyes looked up to ziyi before he answered, "i was scared."

"scared of what?"

"scared to see you hurting because of me."

ziyi didn't realize they were still holding hands until he raised them up to cup xukun’s cheeks with his hands, his thumb rubbed his wet cheek lightly.

"xukun, listen to me. first, this is once again not your fault and second, i am the strongest fighter among you guys so i wouldn't die just because of a few wounds. you can't get away from me that easily you know, and i would keep annoying the hell out of you every single day." ziyi let out a cheeky grin.

xukun choked out a laugh, slapping ziyi's hands away and covered his face with his own hands, "asshole."

“you're actually really a softie, aren't you?”

"the hell i am." xukun threw a pillow towards ziyi but missed him completely and almost knocked down the glass on the drawer, ziyi laughed out loud at it. they ended up spending the night lying side by side on the bed while catching up to each other's life these past few days. xukun told him about the last operation and his future plans while ziyi was telling him about the boys who kept him occupied these days. xukun stared at him in disbelief when ziyi told him that xiao gui and linong brought the playstation down to the infirmary just so they could entertain ziyi. 

something was slowly changing between them tonight, but ziyi didn't want to think about it yet. when they were alone together, time became illusory. it was a blessing and a curse. it was what it was.  


* * *

zhangjing was walking down the hallway when he saw yanjun standing in front of the slightly opened infirmary door, hands folded on his chest. curious, he walked closer then peeked from behind him, he let out an involuntary gasp when he saw what's inside. yanjun glanced down on him and put his index finger on his lips.

inside the infirmary, there were ziyi and xukun huddles together on the bed, still fast asleep. ziyi's arms were wrapped around xukun's smaller figure whose head was on the top of ziyi's chest. they looked so peaceful. it was so cute and domestic.

"about the damn time." zhangjing looked up to see yanjun grinning while looking at the scene in front of him, the dimple on his cheek deepened, zhangjing looked away when he felt his cheeks burn. he just hummed in agreement. ziyi and xukun had been dismissing their feeling for each other for too long so it's nice to see them like this. 

"ah, young love. i'm wondering how it feels." yanjun words made zhangjing froze on the spot, caught him in a maelstrom of his own contradicting feelings and thoughts, but then he just shook them away.

"yanjun, let's go. don’t bother them, let them alone for now." he reached for the doorknob and pulled it closed with a soft click.

"okay, so now, how about you accompany me to go to the mall? i need to buy a new shirt." said yanjun, looping his arm around zhangjing’s shoulders. 

"again? you just bought a new shirt yesterday!" zhangjing scowled but went along with him nevertheless. 

"i need to look good if i want to impress the girls and experience young love too, you know." 

zhangjing fell silence at it. _if only you knew, yanjun_. zhangjing bitterly thought.

**Author's Note:**

> surprised i didn't include yh line? it's because i kinda wanted to write those three as the team's upcoming enemy if i were to write a spinoff, but let's see how it goes later lol 
> 
> also what do you think they're doing aside from being vigilantes? 🧐🧐
> 
> if you have any question you can ask me on my [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/zikunverse) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/ISEEZIKUN)
> 
> and thank you so much for reading, kudos and comments are always appreciated!


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